Improve your strength and balance with Tai Chi

Tai chi is a gentle exercise that helps seniors improve balance and prevent falls.

It consists of making slow, graceful movements while breathing deeply.

Studies have found that tai chi also improves leg strength, cardiovascular endurance, flexibility, immune system, sleep, happiness, sense of self-worth, and the ability to concentrate and multitask during cognitive tests.

Amazing benefits from such a simple exercise!

We found 3 wonderful (and free) beginner tai chi videos for seniors that make it easy for your older adult to do these simple exercises at home.

1. Gentle Tai Chi and Qi Gong LEAP Service – 24 minutes
This is our favourite tai chi video because it has 3 people showing different options for each exercise. 1 person is standing and 2 are seated.

For each exercise, each person shows different modifications for different abilities.

The suggestions help your older adult find ways to make these exercises work best for their own body.

And the voice over instructions reinforce this idea and emphasise safety and comfort above all.

The video is split into two parts. Around 9 minutes and 30 seconds, there’s a natural stopping point after the breathing exercise.

The instructor prompts your older adult to choose to stop here or continue with more tai chi, depending on how they feel.

2. Full Length Tai Chi Class – 36 minutes
In this video, instructor Cate Morill walks through slow, gentle tai chi movements.

At the same time, a second instructor demonstrates how to do the same movements while seated.

3. Tai Chi 5 Minutes a Day Module 01 – easy for beginners – 11 minutes
This video is set against a beautiful natural background while an instructor moves slowly through 5 different tai chi exercises.

The main instruction is from 1:30 minutes in the video to 5:45 minutes.

After the 5:45 minute mark, the instructor goes through the 5 exercises again as an “optional review,” without any spoken instructions.

Modifications aren’t shown, but it’s always possible to adapt these movements for your older adult’s abilities. See video #1 for ideas.